Abstract
Both physicists and philosophers claim that quantum mechanics reduces to classical mechanics as ħ→0, that classical mechanics is a limiting case of quantum mechanics. If so, several formal and non-formal conditions must be satisfied. These conditions are satisfied in a reduction using the Wigner transformation to map quantum mechanics onto the classical phase plane. This reduction does not, however, assist in providing an adequate metaphysical interpretation of quantum theory.
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Earlier versions of this essay received helpful criticism from Bruce Knight, Clark Glymour, and Donald Martin.
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Bruer, J.T. The classical limit of quantum theory. Synthese 50, 167–212 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00416901
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00416901